Flashlight



Patented 17, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FLASHLIGHT Frederick T. Hoeck, Kansas City, Mo., assignor of one-half to P. S. Harris, Kansas City, Mo.

Application April as, 1934, Serial No.'722,931 Claims. (01. 240-10.)

This invention relates to flash lights of the type wherein a hollow casing is employed to support the bulb and switch mechanism and to house dry cell batteries, all to the end that a hand-type flash light of compact nature is produced, and the primary object of this invention is the provision, in such a light, of specially formed dry cell batteries and easing, all of which have parts in complementary relation to preclude relative rotation between the batteries themselves and the hollow casing housing the same.

Another important aim of this invention is to provide a flash light casing havingan embossment internally thereofv that is. received by a specially formed offset created in the batteries of the flash light to the end that all of the available space within the casing might be utilized to contain batteries larger than would be possible if the concepts of this invention were not embodied in the light structure.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a novel and unique flash light battery that has an offset formed in the face thereof in the nature of one or more grooves or analogous indentations for the purpose of complementary structure in a flash light casing when the battery is in operativeposition.

It is well known in this art that practically all dry cell batteries now on the market may be used in most any of the standard casings. There has heretofore never been means provided where-v by a manufacturer could require a particular form of battery to be employed with the casing which he produces. This invention not only fulfills a need of this character, but likewise provides batteries that may be combined with the conventional type of. casing to take the place of batteries of the form now being used.

With the foregoing broad general objects and advantages in mind, the invention will now be described by reference drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal, central, sectional view through a flash light made to embody the present invention, parts being broken away for clearness.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the specially formed battery made to be combined with the casing shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is afragmentary, casing.

Fig. 4 is a cross section through the flash light taken on line IV-IV of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view taken through a flash light casing containing a battery made in accordance with a modified form of the invention.

side elevation of the to the accompanying,

to compensate for the In producing a flash light of the character contemplated, there should be a hollow casing 8 formed to present a cylindrical cross section with a substantially longitudinal embossment Ill internally thereof which forms a cavity l2. One 5 end of hollow casing 8 supports the well known lens I4, below which is the reflector l6 that surroundsand supports bulb 18. An angle ring l9 of insulating material separates reflector l6 and casing 8, as shown in Fig. l. The other end of casing 8 is provided with screw threads or the like 20, which serve to removably hold cap 22 in operative position. A spring 24 is interposed between cap 22 and one of the batteries 26 that are housed within casing 8.

A slide 28 is mounted on casing 8 withincavity l2 with its serrated face flush with the outer surface of casing 8. A spring finger 30 within casing 8 is associated with slide 28 through the medium of rivets or the like 32 and this finger 30 and slide 28 are movable longitudinally for the purpose of making and breaking a circuit which includes batteries 26 and bulb l8, all to the end that the latter may selectively form an illuminating medium.

The specially formed battery 26 which this invention contemplates may be exemplified by the one illustrated in Fig. 2. A longitudinally extending groove 34 is formed in the side wall 36. of battery 26 and in this particular instance extends the full length of the cell. The outside diameter of battery 26 is substantially the same as the inside diameter of casing 8 and when batteries 26 are moved to position, embossment i0 and grooves 34 will be complementary, as shown in Figs. 1 35 and 4. This relationship precludes rotation of the batteries 25 if they are introduced into case 8 and when more than one battery 26 is employed, the length of embossment I0 should be sufncient to enter the grooves 34 of all of said batteries. In the particular instance shown, spring finger 30 traverses a part of groove 34 in one of batteries 26 and the depth of groove 34 should be sufficient depth of embossment l0 and the thickness of spring finger 30. The results attained become obvious and it is manif estly evident that all of the space available is used for batteries 26.

Offsets of a character different from that shown may be employed in creating batteries that will be individual to specially formed casings and another manner of forming a battery is illustrated in Fig, 5. In this instance, the same casing structure is used, but a battery 50 is made cylindrical throughout its length and provided with a cor- 

